Photo by Vileinist.

Good morning, Washington. As D.C. Council Chair Kwame Brown begins the final week of his 2012 budget considerations, efforts to get him to make fewer cuts to social services are at a fever pitch. This long plea from Art Levine in the Huffington Post is getting some internet play this morning, mostly for its focus on incidents where homeless people in search of emergency shelter were given bus tokens so they can “ride the buses all night with their toddlers and infants.” This morning, activists with Save Our Safety Net will conduct a Safety Net Reality Tour inside the Wilson Building, which promises to “engage Councilmembers to remind them that we need additional revenue in order to restore funding to the programs that keep DC residents safe, housed, and healthy.” Will there be capes?

Council Proposes Ethics Reform: Yesterday, though, Brown was focusing on another pressing matter regarding city government: ethics. Along with Councilmember Mary Cheh, Brown co-introduced a bill which would establish an Office of Government Accountability to “investigate any matter involving lobbying, conflict of interest, financial disclosures, and other ethical matters and standards of conduct relating to District government employees, including the Council.” The law also calls for the establishment of a “ethics advisory committee,” and tighter regulations on financial disclosure, including a requirement which would force attorneys on the Council, like Jack Evans and David Catania, to publicly release their client lists.

Gas Magnate Reacts To Investigation: The man who controls a large portion of Washington’s gas stations, Joe Mamo, claims that he’s being “scapegoated” for high gas prices by the District’s Attorney General and the Council. The A.G. has launched an anti-trust investigation into Mamo’s dealings and the Council introduced a measure yesterday which would ban gasoline distributors from being involved in the retail sale of the product. Mamo owns 45 stations inside the District; he told the Post that “there’s no correlation between the increase in price and our profit” and “If we were gouging, it would be very clear we made a huge windfall.”

Briefly Noted: D.C. Auditor slams City Administrator Allen Lew for obstruct[ing] transparency…and accountability” while he was head of the city’s Office of Public Education Facilities Modernization…In guilty plea, Jack Johnson admitted to taking more than $400,000 in bribes…Metro admits double-charging weekly bus pass customers, offers refunds…Fire investigation delays Orange/Blue Lines this morning…G.W. Zeta Beta Tau house catches fire, rendered uninhabitable…Amtrak ramping up security precautions…Prolific Virginia architect John Paul C. Hanbury dies…Marion Barry: still good for a headline every now and then.

This Day in DCist: Last year, a regional cycling event experienced some sabotage, and the Zoo welcomed a lion cub; the year before, we cast a skeptical eye on a study comparing bus and rail riders and Tony Kornheiser left Monday Night Football.